[K9Leader]

Originally Posted by smatanovic

How did the installation go?

I received it a few days ago and although I had planned to do it over my Spring Break in a couple of weeks, this past weekend was warmish weather and I couldn't wait so I plunged in. It took me all day both Saturday and Sunday but it is in and most things are working - Radio, SiriusXM radio, Nav, and music from a USB drive plugged into the "Media" USB cable. I also opted not to use the ashtray relocate kit that comes with the Dynavin unit - my car had the storage bin and not the ashtray. The Metra relocate seemed like a better option so I had ordered one of those and prefer it to the one provided by Dynavin.

What I don't have working yet is the backup camera. I ordered one of the tailgate handle types (from Crutchfield) and getting that in was the biggest challenge of this install. Running the backup camera cable was a challenge - getting it through the rubber conduit into the tailgate and then down and through another grommet into the interior of the tailgate. The connector end that plugs into the camera would never have gone through the rubber conduit and the second grommet so I had to cut the cable and splice the three wires - yellow for video signal, red for power, black for ground - back together once fished through. Also, getting it through that second grommet was going well but then it hung up and I pulled and it seemed to be coming but that turned out to be the wire stretching and then it broke, so I had to splice it back together there as well.

The handle/camera unit also did not really fit. Perhaps it fits better on an E90/92/93 but on the E91 it was a struggle. The electrical connector/switch was just a little bit further forward than on the OEM that I pulled out. That slight difference meant it would not fit in and then swing in to position. I ended up filing/sanding down the plastic on the top of the connector/switch, rounding it off a bit. It was still tight and I used a little lubricant (silicone dielectric grease) to help it and I still had to really muscle it and force it but it did pop into place. The connector/switch appeared to have survived as it does pop it open.

I tapped the red power wire into (what I think is) the reverse light wire and the black ground wire into a brown wire (that I guessed was the ground) running to the light assembly, but still nothing when I go into reverse. I will keep playing with it over the next few days. I understand basic electricity - high school physics, college physics for non-physics majors, 35 years experience as a DIY homeowner/amateur mechanic - but this is a bit more complicated. It doesn't help that both the Dynavin installation documents and (especially) the camera installation instructions are somewhat vague in several areas.

Also, to get the wires in, almost every trim piece in the cargo area had to come off and I spent so much time trying to get the camera working, that it was too late on Sunday to put back the trim that could go back on (really only need to leave the trim off the tailgate until I get the camera working). I put all that back on this evening after work and fooled with the camera wiring again for a while, with no luck. I might have some time on Wednesday afternoon/evening to work on it but after that, not again until Sunday. With the exception of the tailgate trim the rest of the interior is back together so it is drivable again.

I did not take a lot of pics, but here is one with all the guts removed - notice the hole in the dash, cut for a GPS wire that is no longer needed (unless I miss my Garmin so much I go back to it) and was covered by the mount:



Here is it installed and working. I covered the dash hole with a strong magnet and stuck a sunglasses case/holder on. Even without the sunglasses holder, it is just a quarter-size black disc magnet so not too obtrusive - maybe I will stick a BMW logo decal on it because the BMW logo on the steering wheel isn't enough of a reminder of what make I am driving. It's livable: